LARKANA: Pakistan Peoples Party-backed panel swept the Larkana Arts Council election for the year 2021-22 held on Sunday.

The Shah Latif Peoples Cultural Panel defeated the rival Shah Bhitai Panel on all 14 slots.

Amid strict security arrangements at the venue, the polling continued uninterrupted from 9am to 5pm under the supervision of Additional Commissioner-II Ameer Afzal Avesi. Additional Deputy Commissioner-I Sonia Kaleem acted as presiding officer while four officials of deputy commissioner’s office assisted her as polling officers.

A total of 786 members of the Arts Council used their right to franchise and all were found valid. The results were announced late on Sunday night.

The outgoing secretary, Abdul Nabi Sariyo, could not succeed in retaining his post for a second term. He had switched to the Bhitai Panel from the Shah Latif panel in the election.

Engineer Jawed Shaikh with 451 votes was elected as the president, Mohammed Ismail Jatoi with 428 votes as the vice president, Abdul Sattar Khuhawar with 430 votes as the secretary, Abdul Hadi Bugti with 457 votes as the deputy secretary and Munawwar Ali Rind with 441 votes was elected as the finance secretary.

Interestingly, Mohammed Ayoub Gaad bagged 473 votes, the highest number of votes (473) for the seat of chairman fine arts committee, followed by Saleem Raza Kumbhar (463) as chairman music committee and Rizwan Gul (460) as chairman publications committee.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2021